2016 Was A Very Busy Year In E&S Market M&A

Last year saw some of the most significant, mergers, sales and acquisitions activity in nearly two decades, This was particularly true on the dealer/distributor side, but there were some big deals among manufacturers, too. The reasons: valuations were high as the industry has had several good years, borrowed money was cheap and, for a lot of family run businesses, the generational cycle has been running its course. Getting past three generations is tough. And in most cases, this wasn’t big folks buying little folks, but big folks buying other big folks. The result, particular among dealers, was dramatically increased consolidation.

For the record, here are the 2016 deals we’re aware of, in more or less chronological order. Please let us know if we missed anything.

Dealers and Distributors:

--Chef’s Toys bought design-dealer Michael Blackman Assoc.

--Sysco Corp. bought Brakes Group (U.K.) and in early July exercised an option and bought Instawares Holdings/Supplies on the Fly.

--Sam Tell Cos. bought Premium Supply.

--TriMark USA bought Adams-Burch and R.W. Smith.

--Bargreen Ellingson bought the Restaurant Source.

--Boelter bought Premier Restaurant Equipment.

--Best Restaurant Equipment sold to an ESOP.

--Blue Point Capital Partners bought Canada’s largest dealer, Hendrix Hotel & Restaurant Equipment & Supply and merged it with Russell Food Equipment the country’s second largest dealer, which it already owned. The new entity is called Hendrix Russell.